Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder addresses reporters during a news conference Friday, July 19, 2013 in Detroit. Seven governors came and went during the decades-long decay of Michigan’s largest city that culminated with a humiliating collapse into financial ruin. It’s the eighth, former business executive and relative political novice Snyder, who is aggressively tying his legacy to the prospects of a Detroit turnaround. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

DETROIT (AP) — Seven governors came and went during the decades-long decay of Michigan’s largest city that culminated with a humiliating collapse into financial ruin.

It’s the eighth, former business executive and relative political novice Rick Snyder, who is aggressively tying his legacy to the prospects of a Detroit turnaround.

When he took office, Snyder pushed for more powers for the state to intervene in distressed cities and schools. After voters repealed the law last November, he ignored critics and signed another one. He also hired the city’s turnaround specialist and, nearly four months later, blessed the request to file for bankruptcy.

For the man with the “one tough nerd” moniker, it’s the latest bold decision in a 2 ½-year stretch that’s remarkable for the sheer breadth and pace at which Snyder has moved. He’s again in the national spotlight just a half-year after making Michigan — the bastion of the auto industry and organized labor — a right-to-work state, a move that pollsters say led a drop in his approval ratings.